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WOGX
WOGX, virtual channel 51 (UHF digital channel 31), is a Fox owned-and-operated television station serving Gainesville, Florida, United States that is licensed to Ocala. The station is owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Corporation, and although identifying as a separate station in its own right, WOGX is actually considered a semi-satellite of WOFL (channel 35) in Orlando. As such, it clears all network programming as provided through its parent station but airs a separate offering of syndicated programming, albeit with separate local commercials and legal station identifications. Gainesville is by far the smallest designated market area in the U.S. with a "Big Four" network O&O. WOGX maintains an advertising sales office in Gainesville, and its transmitter is located in unincorporated Marion County, between Williston and Fairfield. Master control and most internal operations of WOGX originate from the studios of WOFL and MyNetworkTV O&O WRBW (channel 65) in Lake Mary. On cable, WOGX can be seen on Cox channel 13 in Gainesville and Altitude Communications channel 13 in High Springs. There is a high definition feed offered on Cox digital channel 1013 in Gainesville. The Gainesville television market is located between several other Florida media markets. As a result, the Cox and Charter Spectrum systems in Marion County (part of the Orlando market) do not carry WOGX but opt instead for WOFL, despite Ocala being WOGX's city of license. In addition, the Comcast Xfinity system in Marion County carries WOFL's HD signal on its digital tier in lieu of one from WOGX. History The station began as independent station WBSP-TV on November 1, 1983. The original owners, Big Sun Television, sold WBSP to Wabash Valley Broadcasting of Terre Haute, Indiana in 1986 which changed the call letters to the current WOGX in 1987. The previous calls now belong to a repeater of Fort Myers Univision affiliate WUVF-LP. On May 30, 1991, the station became a Fox affiliate. Prior to then, Gainesville did not have a Fox affiliate of its own. Cox's Gainesville system didn't carry any of the nearest Fox affiliates—WOFL, Tampa Bay's WTOG (through 1988 when Fox moved to WFTS-TV), or Jacksonville's WAWS (now WFOX-TV). Marion County, home to Ocala, had received Fox programming through WOFL and WTOG (until 1988). Citrus County (which is part of the Tampa Bay market, but has long been claimed by WOGX as part of its primary coverage area) received Fox from W49AI (now WYKE-CD), which at the time was a repeater of WOFL (except for late night programming as W49AI signed-off at midnight). W49AI was forced to discontinue Fox and WOFL programming upon WOGX's affiliation. Channel 51 struggled for most of its first decade on the air, as Gainesville was not large enough for the station to be viable on its own. This was true even after the switch to Fox; until the network began airing a full week's worth of programming in 1994, most Fox stations were essentially programmed as independents. Finally, in 1996, Wabash Valley Broadcasting sold WOGX to the Meredith Corporation, owner of WOFL. Meredith turned WOGX into a semi-satellite of WOFL, and closed down WOGX's separate facility on Southwest 37th Avenue in Ocala (along I-75). While Meredith retained a separate sales office for WOGX in Gainesville, most operations were merged at WOFL's studios in Lake Mary. In 2002, Meredith sold WOFL and WOGX to Fox Television Stations in a deal that also saw Meredith obtain KPTV in Portland, Oregon. This made WOFL and WOGX both Fox owned-and-operated stations as well as sister to WRBW (then a UPN affiliate). Sometime in late 2009, the station redesigned its website to match other Fox-owned stations (including WOFL) although it still does not use a "MyFox"-style web address. In addition, the domain names "MyFoxGainesville.com" and "MyFoxOcala.com" both redirect to WOGX's website, wogx.com. Until WNBW-DT signed on, WOGX was the only commercial television station in the Gainesville–Ocala market to never have changed its affiliation. Aborted trade to Sinclair Broadcast Group On December 6, 2017, it was reported that Fox considered trading WOFL and WOGX to Sinclair Broadcast Group in exchange for some larger market Fox affiliates from Sinclair in NFL markets, as part of Sinclair's larger deal to acquire Tribune Media. This would have made the station a sister station to WGFL, WNBW, and their various low-powered sister stations. Since Sinclair doesn't own either WGFL or WNBW outright, it would have been able to own WOGX while continuing to operate WGFL and WNBW under a master service agreement, leaving WCJB-TV as the only commercial network station in the market not operated by Sinclair. However, on May 9, 2018, Fox officially announced which television stations it would purchase from Sinclair. The deal gave Sinclair the option to acquire Fox stations KTBC in Austin, Texas, as well as WFLD in Chicago. This meant that WOGX, along with WOFL, would not be sold to Sinclair and would remain Fox owned-and-operated stations. The Tribune Media deal was aborted in full on August 9, 2018, effectively also making their side deals with Fox Television Stations fully moot. Category:Fox Affiliates Category:Ion Television affiliated stations Category:Channel 51 Category:Ocala Category:Gainesville Category:Florida Category:Television channels and stations established in 1983 Category:1983 Category:Former independent stations Category:Fox Television Stations Category:UHF Category:Fox Florida Category:Ion Television Florida